


Them

by morph



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: :-), Coming Out, Multi, Nonbinary Character, because i was actually proud of that drabble, i redid a drabble that i wrote 2.5 years ago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 10:58:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18281438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morph/pseuds/morph
Summary: "Them." Josh tried the word. It rolled off his tongue; it suited them well.





	Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [edy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edy/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Them](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8593456) by [morph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morph/pseuds/morph). 



> I originally wrote this two and a half years ago, and I was proud of it at the time. I’m still proud of it, but I wanted to rewrite it to match how I am now - my worldview has changed since then.
> 
> Edit: sorry about the multiple emails! AO3 kept messing up the format.

"Them." Josh tried the word. It rolled off his tongue; it suited them well.

"The fan's stopping." ~~He~~ they pointed up, avoiding Josh’s eyes.

Josh stared at their hands, at the paper that waved in the air, trailing the ink splotches that stained their fingers. Their fingers. They looked fragile. But Josh knew they could build mountains, and they could tug the landscape into what ~~he~~ _they_ wanted. And they were still, Tyler’s hands surprisingly quiet. Josh knew his hands would’ve been quaking if he were in Tyler’s shoes. 

The dust hung in the air like a photograph. A photograph of the time capsule that was Tyler’s childhood bedroom. Staying in here felt like he was meeting young Tyler.

Josh was quiet; Josh was careful. 

Josh twined his fingers with Tyler’s. Tugged the flapping paper hands back to Earth.

Tyler turned onto his side to face Josh better. Their. Their side. "Do you think He wanted any of this?" 

Josh smiled gently and pressed a kiss to Tyler’s forehead. That was the age old question, the one that had haunted them for a long time. Josh didn’t know how long, exactly. But it sure was long enough that he was used to Tyler asking that, used to them occasionally praying, asking, _God, why would you let all this happen?_

"I don't know." 

They lay there in their photograph together, listening to Jenna’s steady breathing, to the last few whirs of the ceiling fan (which was struggling, for some odd reason. Probably malfunctioned from the cold. Josh could relate. He didn’t even know why they had the fan on.) It was a nostalgic moment, much like those long nights in the van they had shared. 

They sighed abruptly. "Josh?"

“Yeah?"

"I’m still Tyler."

"Okay."

"I’m just... not Tyler, the ‘super hot Tyler Man’.” 

Josh laughed at that, careful not to wake Jenna. 

“You are super hot though,” Josh whispered into the top of Tyler’s hair. 

“Oh yeah man, of course.” When he pulled back slightly, Josh could see the glow on Tyler’s cheeks, even in the dark. Even over the bright, golden hair splayed over two pillows on Tyler’s left. 

Tyler went quiet for a moment.

“I’m Tyler." 

“Yeah, of course.” A pause. “I’m Josh.” 

Josh was always careful. He didn’t care if he had to chew his own foot off for Tyler to be happy; if that made them more comfortable, he didn't care. (That was a weird situation to think about, he realised. Whatever. It was the thought that counted.) 

He wondered if Tyler and Jenna had had this conversation yet. Probably. Maybe it had happened on the car ride down, chain around the tyres as they crunched through the snow and carefully over potholes, when Josh had been fast asleep. Plausible. Probable, even.

"Tyler." He paused. _I love you_ didn't seem right. Not for this moment. He said it anyway, and Tyler beamed at him, and it was as if all the light in the room was concentrated in their face (except for the light radiating from Jenna’s hair. How that was possible, Josh has no idea). Josh kissed their forehead again. "Sleep well." 

“You too, dude.”

He gently stroked his thumb over their hand and let Tyler sleep. They needed it. God knows how long they had agonised over how to come out to Josh.

"Them," he whispered to himself. It was just right on his tongue. It just screamed Tyler’s name back to him.


End file.
